What's your monthly food budget

Geesh. Same here. There was one day I had the A/C set to 80 and it nearly ran all day. Just received the electric bill and it was a smooth $145. That's after ranging anywhere from $$75-$90 in prior months.

As far as food goes, I try to keep it around $75 a week. I'm with Beef, I'd rather spend a little more on quality of food and get something that's a bit more healthy compared to something cheap. I try to go to the local Farmer's Markets and meat markets in hopes of getting better quality. I just can't imagine places like Wal-Mart and other big chains selling food at a cheaper rate and it not be ridiculously processed of god knows what. Having said that, I still find myself too often sitting in a drive-thru at whatever fast food restaurant for a quick bite to eat before a game.

 

The extra storage can definitely pay off. It's just an issue of keeping track.
I recently had to explain to someone that the combination of the old, energy-inefficient extra refrigertator and her refusal to shop/stock it more frugally was costing her money, not saving.

 

Once you're married, that BJ's card will be useless.

 

It is the house and not the cost of electric. When I lived on a 5th floor apartment, my electric would run $250-$350 in the summer months in a 1bd/1ba unit.

Buck, I agree 100% on the old refrigerator. I have a buddy who has one in his garage stocked with lukewarm beer and soda. The seal on the door is a mess and he won't spend the money to fix or buy a new refrigerator so instead the refrigerator is a garage A/C unit.

 

After I bought my house, I had the electric company come out and do an efficiency check. I was above their "above average" grade on everything. New windows, better insulation than they recomment, new a/c unit, new water heater.

The problem is that it's 90 and above here for 6 months a year.

 

I typically budget between $600-650 a month for groceries, but I would guess about a third of that is non-food (dog food, cat foot/litter, detergents, paper goods, etc.), plus probably another $150 a month at various restaurants.

I know eating out that much is not good for the budget or the waistline, but it's just my wife and me now, and with our goofy work schedules (she's a nurse on the night shift), it's often a lot easier to to do that rather than try to scrounge up something for just the two of us.

 

I think I'm going to knock about 25% off my total now that my mother finally convinced me to give Aldi a try.

I had bad memories of it from when I was a kid (shopping at Aldi always meant we were having a bad month financially), plus it was all the way on the other side of town. But I gave it a try and was blown away by how much better their prices are than the nearer grocery store.

 

In a perfect world, we would make three stops for shopping each week.

Meats, milk, fruits and veggies at BJ's and store some in our chest freezer.

Other foods (canned or frozen) at Kroger or Food Lion.

Cleaning supplies using coupons at the CVS. The wife usually gets 50-70% off timing her coupons right at CVS.

I just wish I could get her to stop buying discounted meat at Kroger. She just does not understand that graying meat at any price is not a good deal.

 

How often do you all do food shopping? I find that stopping at the store daily or every other day, as opposed to one big trip a week, means I waste less and spend less.

 

I end up going 3-4 times a week. Once for a big sweep to get most of what we need, the rest to pick up little things I forgot and to re-up on fresh fruits.

 

My 2 year old son is already eating us out of house and home. He eats more than our 5 year old, and she's no slouch. The kids eat fruit like like they're stranded on a tropical island. Fresh fruit is expensive!

I can only imagine what my little tank will be like as a teenager.